#Second entry...Day 26 Gratitude Journal Challenge with Banke.

 Hola amigos!...How do you do today?...I trust you consciously enjoyed the benefits for today?I did and i'm #grateful for every single one from the cab fares friends catered for to favors enjoyed while food-shopping this evening. Thankful all the way.
    Interestingly,my day started out at about 3am.I woke to electricity and that short while awake before I returned to dreamland birthed the unusual.Remember my journal entry on Friday where I talked about Faith&how she was supposed to feature but was nowhere to be found?No?Oya go and read it asap...
Okay,turned out factors not exclusive of phcn and bb battery ish contributed to her inability to feature....Atta girl that she is though,she still sent me the post the next day,apologising profusely.I wasn't sure I would be able to publish it not 'cos I was disappointed/upset at plans falling through but because all the dates had been taken by guest bloggers a week before.Thus,I went on with my biz,not even taking time to read it.
Long story short,I felt inclined while awake in those wee hours to share her #gratitude entry. Just before I could say Jack,I had written an intro,copied,pasted&proofread her post.I didn't even completely enunciate Robinson before the post had gone up....and then I went back to sleep.
     In the process of writing,I was the combination of inexplicable giddy+palpable enthusiasm at my norm-breaking audacity.It just felt right to share that post...and it did bless me,besides exciting and giving me a run for my money i.e. Don't check out here tonight without reading (and dropping a comment too) Faith's #gratitudejournal entry.Babe waxed poetic no be small....Its the post before this.
    I'm #thankful for a double-barrelled #gratitudejournal entry day.Double portion blessings all the way mehn!!!...lol...Its totally refreshing to be a part of something this close to God's heart,cultivating and sharing amongst others a kingdom dialect&culture.I'm also #thankful for strength in the things of God,wireless internet connection(first time ever!)and the nudging of God's spirit.

I've got an amazing young woman today on this night's journal entry.God does have a sense of humour sha.Its interesting how she&Faith are featuring on same day(Don't worry,I won't tell anyone the gist behind this divinely orchestrated pattern.Relax!lol)
Banke is a gorgeous,profoundly inspiring woman who does beautiful works with her hands as inspired by God....makeup artist extraordinaire and wall/interior decor artist.
She is CEO @Oludidit studios.Check out her blog here@ www.oludidit.blogspot.com

Banke

*big sigh*
If I had had a premonition of how today would eventually turn out, I would have been more swift in responding to my 5:20am alarm!
A little story on the 5:20am alarm…
I’ve come to hate o’clocks. 6 o’clock, 12 o’clock.. Just slay me already.
Something about those times just makes me want to go late. Lateness is spirit, by the way but…whatever.
Where was I?
So,  yea. O’clocks.
My alarm goes off by 4:45am every morning but yesterday, I couldn’t go to bed early so I adjusted the time by 35minutes to 5:20am. Not like the extra sleep will make me any more beautiful than I already am though. (bats eyelashes at my narcissism.)

The day.
…And what I’m thankful for.
#Soliloquy: I hope this is how it goes sha. Anything for the perfectionista resplendenta Liz! :D

I’m thankful for the newness of the day.
I am NOT a religious sister so I’m not speaking christianese here. Mine is a personal walk of faith and I’m glad that each new day, I don’t have to beg God for extra toppings of mercy or grace because I overused the previous day’s portion. It’s simply NEW every morning!
That to me, is amazing and nothing beats it.

I’m thankful for the ability to ask and receive.
I’m a serving corps member and for the next project at my cds group. I’m on a 6-man fund-raising committee. We had letters typed out and our flight plan mapped out. We had gone out on Monday last week to give out a few letters and we met unprecedented favour. On one spot, we had raised 230k out of 360k from four Commissioners and a Permanent Secretary. What we did today was to send out more letters and get some of the cash we were promised the week before.
It all went very well.

I thank God for the gift of friendship.
The whole rounds of the fundraising today was done under the sun. But I had fun! One of our stops was at the Government house, Minna. We were asked to wait in a plush room for a while and as adventure lovers, we started to take pictures behind the backdrops. At some point, nobody wanted to be left out in the picture taking so it means we had no camera man. We had to resort to the camera  timer which was crazy fun, by the way. We would  set the timer and  run back to strike our different poses like little kids.
The room had CCTV camera, may I add. Whoever was doing the watch for that shift no doubt had the time of his life! hehe

I thank God for food. Good food.
After the whole waka waka, we went to some Iya Femi place like that (quite reminiscent of Skye bank place in Ibadan. And Ojuurin too! :D) and we all had pounded yam with orisirisi soups. I had egusi with one kind big goat meat like that! When food can make you speak in tongues!! *lips sealed*
There’s also something about eating together that makes the food so much sweeter.
There was a downside though.
The road back to my house is quite rough so all the food had the audacity and well, liberty, to mix well in my belly. I could literally hear the sound of it! Choi.
Barely an hour after the meal, I had to be in church for a cell meeting. Honestly, I thought we would just pray for a while and do talking for the most part. Brethren, it was the other way round.
Have you ever tried rattling in tongues after an overly satisfying meal of pounded yam with correct egusi and goatmeat? Don’t try it mehn! It’s such heaviness and battle against the flesh.
Nna mehnn, odikwa serious!

I thank God for love.
Just before the meeting started, my cell leader was put in charge of this really fine baby boy, barely 2years old. Or maybe 2. He was so adorable! When the meeting started, he put me in charge of the baby. So it meant that I had to pray with a terribly full stomach, carrying a baby!
It was seeming tribulation but I counted it all joy.
It indeed was all joy!
The boy was so calm and beautiful. I started to cuddle him well oo, tapping grace for my own in the future. Something funny happened though. Happened about 4times sef. This boy and me would, at every of the 4times lock in a gaze and he would gradually lean into me and bring his lips towards mine.
No I’ve not been reading Miles and Boons..Jeez, give a sisteh some credit! :p
And no, I was not imagining things.
The funni-ly awkard part was that THAT made me shy and I would just turn my cheek awkwardly. Like you would do to deflect an actual kiss you didn’t want. It was so odd!
I sha thought it was cute o but I wondered what the child had been seeing his parents do.
Aanyywayy,
I carried him and pressed him towards my chest, rocking him once in a while, while I went on praying in tongues.
The most beautiful thing happened…
He slept! Right there, on my chest, while I prayed in tongues. With the volume I was on, it would be disturbance to anybody. I later found out from his Mum that that’s what makes him sleep; when they (his parents) are praying in tongues.
I loved the boy! It was so sad when his mother carried him away! L

And again, I thank God for love.
I’m in a relationship with the most amazing man on earth! Everyday is a new chapter of love and discovery and depth and to God, everyday, I express such immense gratitude for this gift!
Lemme share a snippet of what melted my heart today:
“I may not see all the luxury, dreams, success that I want yet but when I look at you, I know God gave me the most important thing first.”

Lastly, I thank God for electricity. It seems rather mundane to thank God for this but when your laptop battery dies and the one on your blackberry follows, yet you still have to type Madam Liz’s blog post, you’ll scream to the top of your lungs when light shows up.
I did.
J
Thank you for this opportunity to be openly thankful, Liz. I can feel God smiling right now.

P.s: Liz would never know the James Bond moves I had to do to make this post a reality this night. And I’m not even telling. For this too, I give thanks!

Lizzie
Thank you for sharing dear!...May your life be beautiful...*winks*.

N.B:Day 26 has got two #thankful guest posts do not forget to read today's first #gratitudejournal entry with Faith(simply read the post before this)....as well as my partners-in-gratitude @www.eziaha.com and www.giantsparkle.wordpress.com.

Here's my little closing poem.Enjoy!

Never be caught walking around life like anyone owes you anything.
Be #grateful to God and for God.
Be #grateful to people and for people.
Be #grateful for situations&circumstances.
Till your #perpetual gratitude exudes unbidden and attracts more blessings/virtues to be grateful for.

*bear hugs*...Good night folks!